PRETORIA - AfriForum on Thursday laid criminal charges of incitement to violence against the Economic Freedom Fighters' secretary-general Godrich Gardee at the Lyttelton police station in Pretoria.
The lobby group filed charges under Section 18 of the Riotous Assemblies Act, 17 of 1956.
This follows Gardee’s deleted tweet stating that the Loftus Versfeld stadium where evangelist pastor Angus Buchan has organised an event should be “booby-trapped” with limpet mines prior to the event.
“The disturbing tweet by the secretary-general of the EFF seems to indicate that the party believes it can incite violence against South African citizens without having to face any consequences. Violent threats of this nature have no place in any society, especially not from the secretary-general of the third-largest political party in South Africa,” said Ernst van Zyl, the campaign officer for AfriForum.
Gardee's tweet comes after Buchan on Tuesday drew outrage from the EFF for saying only Afrikaners and Jews had a covenant with God.
AfriForum also lodged a complaint of hate speech with the South African Human Rights Commission against Gardee.
Van Zyl said AfriForum views Gardee’s threatening tweet as very dangerous and malicious.
“The civil rights organisation therefore took steps to ensure justice through proper legal channels. We urge the authorities to take proper action against Gardee to ensure accountability and also to serve as a deterrent for those who want to make violent threats of this nature in the future,” he said.
Gardee has since withdrawn his statement following an apology from Buchan.